Assisi, the public veneration of the mortal remains of St Francis comes to an end

In Assisi, the public veneration of the mortal remains of the Saint, the patron saint of Italy and protector of the least, comes to a close in the lower church of the Basilica of St Francis. The event in one month brought over 370,000 pilgrims from all over the world to Assisi. Men and women, young and old, children and adults, families and individuals, the people of St Francis greeted the ostension of the Saint's mortal remains with joy, but also in recollection. More than 100 thousand faithful took part in the more than 170 celebrations in the upper church of the Basilica. Hundreds of volunteers and collaborators made the event possible, which was attended by over 300 journalists from 130 national and international newspapers. On the evening of 22 March, at the end of the passage of the last pilgrims, there will be a moment reserved only for the friars: the rite of reposition of the Saint's mortal remains in the crypt of the Basilica, a gesture that will officially conclude the event.

"We have been a fraternity gathered around Francis," said Brother Marco Moroni, Custos of the Sacred Convent, "a fraternity of 370,000 people gathered here and many others around the world. A composed and prayerful fraternity, which wanted to meet, in the sign of poor and fragile bones, all the power of a life animated by the Spirit, which continues to bear fruit. Thanks to all those who, in different ways, collaborated to think, organise and manage an event that took place far beyond my imagination and expectations".

"I had no doubt that there would be many of us to meet Francis," said Br Giulio Cesareo, director of the Sacro Convento's Office of Communication. "One thing that I really did not expect was the recollected and joyful way that characterised the pilgrimage and veneration in the Basilica: silence, patience, mobile phones in our pockets, and yet there are the remains of Francis and Giotto's frescoes. The only explanation for all this is that none of us actually came to see Francis, but it was he who - alive - called us to speak to us in our hearts and minds'.

The friars of the friary emphasised how this month of veneration has "been a time of profound and meaningful encounters, lived around the figure of the Saint. The community of friars of the Sacro Convento also experienced a breath of freshness and energy, welcoming brothers from all over Italia and from distant countries like Brazil, the United States, Tanzania, India, Korea and the Middle East". The event also marked an opening to new languages of communication, such as the production of the music video of the hymn of the ostension, 'Su questo colle' (On this hill). The occasion also saw important interventions in the Sacro Convento complex to break down architectural barriers and make the experience of the visit fully accessible to all. "The attention to inclusiveness," the friars emphasise, "has made it possible to live an authentic and shared experience, in line with the spirit of Francis, who began his journey of conversion by making himself close to the most fragile, the last, the marginalised".

The ostension was not an isolated event, but part of the 8th Franciscan centenary - which in the Basilica has taken on the motto of "St Francis lives" - a journey that began last year with the creation of the 2026 calendar of the magazine "St Francis, Patron Saint of Italia", also entitled "St Francis lives". A path born from the awareness that Francis is a presence still alive among us, the seed that, having fallen into the earth, precisely in dying - which is a metaphor for the gift of self - has borne and continues to bear fruit.